Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1887-06-17

who could love her deeply, and in conse-
quence, cherish and tenderly care for her.
He had no sentimentS-the old electrician.
He looked upon vital force as merely @
form of electrical force. He regarded the
human body simply as a complex ma
chine, and all it's acts, of thought and SEN
timent, as well as muscular motion, as
purely electrical phenomena. He believed
that any mans emotional capacity was
directly proportional to his possession of
latent nerve force Consequently he calm
ly and resolutely had determined to let
Mr. Vellu4l woo Symmetry to the full OF
his wishes, but he proposed to know eX-
actly how much he actually loved her by
keeping track of the process with his gal
vanometer.
His plan was simply this: Mr.. Vellum,
while making love, should be insulated and
should be the connecting link between two
positive and negative wires, which wires
should run from the arena of loves young
dream, the beautiful twilight stiffness of
the garden, into the matter of fact seclu-
sion and the unsentimental surroundings
of Mr. Whens library. This was why he
had insisted on silk clothing, because he
wanted to give Mr.. Vellum every show,
and silk was the best conductor in the
list of fabrics. Consequently, having Civ
en- his consent, he fitted up two stationary
stuffed cloth chairs beneath a spreading
elm, Just where colonnade of beautiful
trees led away to the moonlit surface of q
sleeping silver lake. 1t was a beautiful
place for mans heart, beating with all
the high hopes and pure and enrolling
ambitions of manly love, to expand it
self It was also first class locality to
bring out all the sympathetic electricity
there was in him, thought the old gen
tleman as he surveyed his work and
chuckled The chairs were similar and
were placed side by side quite close to-
gether. The only difference between
them was that Mr.. Vellum's had two
narrow strips of brass running down the
back and across the seat of the chair out
side of the wooden upholstery. From
these slips two fine No. 10 copper wires
led down the chair legs, up the trunk of
the elm, along a branch, across the lawn
to the portico, around the corner of the
house, through the library window and
connected with the positive and negative
poles Of Mr.. When's galvanometer. The
chairs stood on the platform, which ap-
peared to be of rough wood, but was really
a large plate of rough glass. Mr.. Vellum,
when he obeyed the promptings OF his
deep affection, would be absolutely insu-
lated with the exception of the brass
strips which he would infallibly touch
whichever way he sat and thereby COM
plete the circuit. Every ohm of vital cleo
tricity set free by the psyche physiological
reactions of his developing sentimental
perturbation would therefore directly seek
an equilibrium in the wires. If he pre-
tended to love Symmetry and the galvan-
ometer reading was against him, the old
man proposed to set the dog on him with
out delay.
BY dusk on Saturday evening Symmetry
was waiting, in the tender trying conflict
of a young girls heart, for her lovers
STEP She knew something of the plan.
She was perforce party to it. She did
not dare to tell Mr.. Vellum for fear her
father had some unearthly machine by
which he would catch her at it. Dressed
in snowy null, with the velvet blush Of
the unfolding rose upon her cheek, she
was as gentle, as perfect, and as fair as
some women are who make the biblical
angel rational supposition. Dressed
half an hour too early she came down
stairs and stole softly and alone into the
dark library where the galvanometer,
ito SHINING nickel rim, It's Circular scale,
with the fine degree marking, and its
thin, almost invisible needle, lay silent
upon her fathers desk. Who can tell
what loving hopes and tender fears were
hers as she gazed tinidly upon that deli
cate thing of metal and of glass upon
which all her life happiness depended?
Who can tell the unexpressed longing
that came to her as she wished it were
only pug dog or policeman or any
thing that, by woman's diplomacy, she
could win over to her cause. But no! 1t
was cold and quiet and beyond her. But
she leaned over impulsively and kissed it;
kissed it warmly and eagerly upon its
face as all the love in her heart outshone.
The needle trembled slightly in gallant
recognition. That was all.
Mr. Vellum arrived duly and was ush-
cred in by Symmetry to her father. The
old man eyed him sharply while they ex-
changed few commonplaces, and Vellum
fondly imagined that the searching glance
was probing deep into his moral charac-
ter, but it wasn't. 1t was directed en-
tirely at his underclothes. 1t was little
awkward to ask a stranger about his I'M
derwear, particularly when he had not
been five minutes in the house. Notwith
standing this, however, the old man was
several times on the verge of it, and SYM
metry was in mortal terror. She was so
nervous that she could neither talk nor
sit still. She rose to her feet.
Mr. Vellum, ldn't-wouldn' you
like to take walk in the garden?" she
asked nervously. cit is beautiful to see
the moon rising over the galvanometer. F."
1.-THE which?'' asked Mr.. Vellum,
aghast.
''The lake, the lake, mean," she said
hastily, blushing holly in her trembling
misery.
81 should be delighted, 1 am sure said
Vellum. He looked askance at her
father.
''Oh don't mind me, don't mind me-"
said the old gentleman, quickly. He was
rubbing his hands and seemed as pleased
as if he were going to walk himself. The
two men rose. HBe natural; all I want
is for you to be perfectly natural, - he
whispered rapidly in Vellum's ear.
Vellum stared at him as if he c1assed
him as something decidedly unnatural.
"I'H a-I'l endeavor to be-" he said,
dryly.
Out of the door and down the wide
graveled walk the lover and the loved one
AldSSetl. L liz AtSll VI Vic
mer night was perfect. The dewy air was
laden with the scent of flower and shrub
ems END fr tie great Taaa2 gold moon was climbing
the black velvet wall of the sky. All, yes,
Mr.. Vellum! If ever in all the dusty
wears of dusty commerce you or any other
man would choose to be measured by the
impartial Cupid of exact science, it would
be upon a night and in an hour such as
this with the pure and warm and pre-
cious thing in gauze upon your arm.
The old man was soon in a state of fu-
rious impotence. Three times had he sat
himself down in his library chair before
the instrument and three times had the
needle stood motionless, only sending him
back to the door to discover that they had
not taken the chairs, but were STOPPING
over a flower, or bending over the crystal
rim of the little lake, or standing still to
breathe in the magical radiance of the
silent moon. But at last they
the Seats. They sat down as
intended. He rushed back to the library
and
How the old mans eyes lightened! The
needle had gone from o to 3 the minute
Vellum touched the chair.
Then the old man pumped himself
down in his seat, and with the shaded
lamp light shining brightly on the face of
the instrument and bringing the watchers
nose and mouth in full relief he watched
with all his eyes.